I think I can look into the tuning files for the interaction, and the criteria for a "failure" (target getting offended, initiator getting flustered)...
Back off topic: Lucy at Maxis reminds me of Henry at Gibson Guitars...
Wish I was still up on programming, the stuff they do today is so far removed from what I did back in the 80s-90s there's not much resemblance left. If you can do that, it would be great! I'd love to hear what you discover!
Not familiar with Henry of Gibson Guitars.
Long story short: Henry bought the company in the late 80s when it was struggling. Luckily for him, Slash of Guns 'N' Roses made the Les Paul Standard, their flagship guitar, cool again, and he put a focus on quality. All was good, but it didn't last forever...
But, from 2008 to 2013, things were rough (the fact that they were raided for using wood from shady sources did not help), but 2013-2014 were good again.
For 2015, Gibson rolled out changes across the solidbody electric line (including the Les Paul) - automatic tuners, a new nut designed by Henry, and a wider neck to accommodate the nut. Many players hate the new wider neck.
Long story short: Henry's vision led to a product only he likes.
At least Lucy has to answer to shareholders. Gibson is privately owned and Henry has complete control.
But - Henry at least plays the guitar (though not very well). Does Lucy play video games?
Wow! Great story and spot on analogy! LOVE stories like that. LOL
Know that name for some reason, but don't remember why or from where, must be TS3 related though, right?
Twallen was the Master of all Modders. Ever heard of NRaas Industries? He started that Wiki. And, yes, he was mostly modding for Sims3. We were all sadden, those of us who relied on his mods, when he retired and told us he would not be modding for TS4. He was also a very personable player. I had a problem which I took to the Sims3 forums, and I had only vaguely heard of this Twallen fellow. To my great surprise, he answered my thread and gently offered a solution for my problem. It was his Travelers Mod. Seems WA didn't play well with the other EPs, and Twallen fixed it. My singer Sim, superstar, and his bride were trapped in Shang Simla where they went to honeymoon. I couldn't get them to return home. It was a vexing problem, easily fixed with his mod. I became an instant fan. I read up on the mods, and learned how to install them. I must have had twenty or so of his mods in my Sims3 game. They stabilized it, and I no longer had to relocate my Sims and their extensive family to a fresh game save to avoid the inevitable corruption. That's who he is.
I would guess most likely a glitch. Either that, or the traits were put into play. What are the traits for each person? is one hot headed? That could be it.
No, in fact Smokey is Friend to the World and really loves Lyss. I thought there was something strange going on when she wouldn't compliment his art numerous times, until I forced it. Could it be that it's because he's mentoring her in Painting and she's only level 6? But why would a teacher be insulted if his student said they liked his art? That makes NO sense! I loved it when my students complimented me!
What can I say... This entire game makes no sense at all. It's so frustrating to play this half baked game.
It's like every subroutine was written by a different person and the coders never coordinated with the others, more than superficially anyway, it's not cohesive (sort of like this buggy website). The only reason it's SO frustrating is that it's really interesting at times, then you get into that new thing and it leads you to boring/infuriating/frustrating nowhere, with so many poor choices made by the designers as to directions of play and logical outcomes. That's one reason sandbox is better than amusement park. With sandbox, you find your own fun, with amusement park the designers have to really be on the ball to keep the customers having fun, that's much harder to accomplish. If you don't have what the people want down pretty much pat, don't go for amusement park.
However, the CAS function is fantastic, so is Build. It's just that when it comes to interpersonal relationships... which is supposedly what TS4 is all about... people who must be totally clueless about that subject seem to have been the ones who coded it.
Sims 3 had similar issues in different ways. Wish we had Twallan to help us
Know that name for some reason, but don't remember why or from where, must be TS3 related though, right?
Yep, there were two modders who were willing to spend entirely too much time fixing EA's bugs, and they're the reason why Sims 3 did as well as it did. Twallan (NRaas) and Pescado (Awesome) were able to get deep down into the code in ways that most people either could not or would not because of skill or time.
Sims 4 doesn't have them. So as the bugs start piling up, it will be interesting to see what ends up happening. The bugs are already there, and many have been there since launch and have still not been fixed. As more content is added, more bugs will appear.
What I wonder is if resources will be pulled from making content to fix bugs, or if they will try to pump out content. My guess is the former, actually, given how much less content has been released for Sims 4 as compared to Sims 3.
I think I can look into the tuning files for the interaction, and the criteria for a "failure" (target getting offended, initiator getting flustered)...
Back off topic: Lucy at Maxis reminds me of Henry at Gibson Guitars...
Oh... you said Henry AT Gibson, not Henry Gibson...
Know that name for some reason, but don't remember why or from where, must be TS3 related though, right?
Twallen was the Master of all Modders. Ever heard of NRaas Industries? He started that Wiki. And, yes, he was mostly modding for Sims3. We were all sadden, those of us who relied on his mods, when he retired and told us he would not be modding for TS4. He was also a very personable player. I had a problem which I took to the Sims3 forums, and I had only vaguely heard of this Twallen fellow. To my great surprise, he answered my thread and gently offered a solution for my problem. It was his Travelers Mod. Seems WA didn't play well with the other EPs, and Twallen fixed it. My singer Sim, superstar, and his bride were trapped in Shang Simla where they went to honeymoon. I couldn't get them to return home. It was a vexing problem, easily fixed with his mod. I became an instant fan. I read up on the mods, and learned how to install them. I must have had twenty or so of his mods in my Sims3 game. They stabilized it, and I no longer had to relocate my Sims and their extensive family to a fresh game save to avoid the inevitable corruption. That's who he is.
NRaas! Duh, I'm such a dimwit, I USE that! No wonder Twallen sounded familiar. LOL I forgot a legend, sheesh!
Generic result is a slight relationship gain, but there are failure states. Smokey does not have the "Art Lover" trait - which would have made it a big compliment.
I'm a little rusty on the XML format for socials, though.
Why do compliments have failure outcomes?
AhHAH! He doesn't have that trait! Well, crud. Relationship hit.
It's getting so bad I'm afraid to have her say much of anything to him, his fuse is so short. There is GOING to be a blow-up, the game's making it inevitable, draining what little fun left right out of the game for me. Guess it's bye-bye Smokey and Lyss. Man, I hate to leave them, especially Smokey, but his bad-tempered creep side is making it a lot easier.
She autonomously tried to discuss Logic Problems with him, he put his hands over his face, tilted his head back and growled in disgust, then threw his hands down and stomped out to dance. I stopped the dance action, so he sat down across from her and started yelling at her, waving his hands and stabbing his finger at her. Poor little Lyss, she just sat there in shock and took it. She wasn't any more shocked than I was, though. He's never done that with ANY of his other wives, and he lived with both Kat and Del for awhile. It's obvious he thinks Lyss is just a dumb kid. The odd thing is SHE'S the one with the active Loner trait, so where's her self-righteous indignation?
That's two, Smokey, tired of closing out and reloading.
Is it possible there's a phantom counter that keeps track of how long a sim's been active, at least for the current game, even when aging is turned off? Or is it that he's so advanced? Need to find out how he's playing for someone who's downloaded him into their game.
Think this is my last day with TS4, it's just too illogical, can't take it anymore. Too much sim-blah-sim-blah-blah running around in my head I'm unable to process. Never had this kind of frustration with TS3. I just want to have a lighthearted play experience, not wind up disliking every sim I've made. Reminds me of how turned-off I was by the modern version of Battlestar Galactica, not one of the characters was a decent human being. Seems the same can be said for the TS4 sims.
Generic result is a slight relationship gain, but there are failure states. Smokey does not have the "Art Lover" trait - which would have made it a big compliment.
I'm a little rusty on the XML format for socials, though.
Why do compliments have failure outcomes?
AhHAH! He doesn't have that trait! Well, crud. Relationship hit.
It's getting so bad I'm afraid to have her say much of anything to him, his fuse is so short. There is GOING to be a blow-up, the game's making it inevitable, draining what little fun left right out of the game for me. Guess it's bye-bye Smokey and Lyss. Man, I hate to leave them, especially Smokey, but his bad-tempered creep side is making it a lot easier.
She autonomously tried to discuss Logic Problems with him, he put his hands over his face, tilted his head back and growled in disgust, then threw his hands down and stomped out to dance. I stopped the dance action, so he sat down across from her and started yelling at her, waving his hands and stabbing his finger at her. Poor little Lyss, she just sat there in shock and took it. She wasn't any more shocked than I was, though. He's never done that with ANY of his other wives, and he lived with both Kat and Del for awhile. It's obvious he thinks Lyss is just a dumb kid. The odd thing is SHE'S the one with the active Loner trait, so where's her self-righteous indignation?
That's two, Smokey, tired of closing out and reloading.
Is it possible there's a phantom counter that keeps track of how long a sim's been active, at least for the current game, even when aging is turned off? Or is it that he's so advanced? Need to find out how he's playing for someone who's downloaded him into their game.
Think this is my last day with TS4, it's just too illogical, can't take it anymore. Too much sim-blah-sim-blah-blah running around in my head I'm unable to process. Never had this kind of frustration with TS3. I just want to have a lighthearted play experience, not wind up disliking every sim I've made. Reminds me of how turned-off I was by the modern version of Battlestar Galactica, not one of the characters was a decent human being. Seems the same can be said for the TS4 sims.
From my initial skimming through the statistics / trackers, there doesn't seem to be anything tracking "how long since this Sim has been a jerk".
But that expression of murderous rage...and he's clearly not Hot-Headed! Maybe it's better safe than sorry. Find a randomly generated townie to take Smokey's bloodlust out on, the game loves to churn out randoms.
They have nice little trackers for "time to slap your Sim with a Tense moodlet from a trait, because Tense Sims are hilarious". Problem is, you don't see these trackers, so they're pretty much random punishments.
Judging by the presence of the Mischief skill (although it's rather tame and lame), along with the fact that on release, one out of four career tracks were evil (the two Criminal tracks, along with the Smuggler track of Astronaut and Villain track of Secret Agent), it seems they really want you to be a jerk.
There's a problem with Smokey starting something with a random sim: ME. No matter a stranger's traits, he makes friends with them instantly and keeps them forever. That's why how he's acting with Lyss is so completely illogical. I love his super-friendliness, and can't go outside MY character to force an unpleasant encounter I have no interest in. Therefore, impasse. Time to choose.
I started up TS3 again and realized all the interesting things there were to do right there at my sim's house, more diversity of interests on that one lot than in all the neighborhoods of TS4. Do you realize what an indictment of TS4 that is? Add to that the pleasant, logically acting, decent sims of TS3 and TS4 fades away, pretty sims, buildings and all.
They DO have trackers, I thought so! Since they were tracking romantic interactions way back in TS2, at least, maybe from inception. I'll bet there's a tracker for interpersonal relationships. Going too smooth for too long? Throw in an angry reaction to anything, no matter what, and stir it up a bit. How infantile. But then, the entire TS4 game is infantile and uninspired. It relies on formula and tired gimmicks that don't play well at their best, and they are far from their best in TS4.
HOW could they wind up coding such brilliant programs like their awesome CAS and Build, then totally bomb the actual gameplay? It's not the bugs, it's the boring, repetitive, often disgusting low-road they force players to trudge. The magic of all those pretty sims and beautiful buildings ruined by the lack of any vision from the gameplay designers. Sad.
You guy sure are making a big deal out of something that's probably just a bug.
Bugs aren't a big deal?.................
That's a lot of periods.
They can be frustrating, certainly. Though my comment was in regards to statements suggesting all of this was in aid of some sort of quack new age psychology the devs are trying to shove down our throats. Or whatever. Honestly, the conversation sort of derailed itself at some point.
You guy sure are making a big deal out of something that's probably just a bug.
Bugs aren't a big deal?.................
That's a lot of periods.
They can be frustrating, certainly. Though my comment was in regards to statements suggesting all of this was in aid of some sort of quack new age psychology the devs are trying to shove down our throats. Or whatever. Honestly, the conversation sort of derailed itself at some point.
Oh I get it now. My bad. Well it's still a pretty big deal the way they handled this game. Whatever their goal they had in mind, it certainly wasn't one of a life simulation.
Generic result is a slight relationship gain, but there are failure states. Smokey does not have the "Art Lover" trait - which would have made it a big compliment.
I'm a little rusty on the XML format for socials, though.
Why do compliments have failure outcomes?
AhHAH! He doesn't have that trait! Well, crud. Relationship hit.
It's getting so bad I'm afraid to have her say much of anything to him, his fuse is so short. There is GOING to be a blow-up, the game's making it inevitable, draining what little fun left right out of the game for me. Guess it's bye-bye Smokey and Lyss. Man, I hate to leave them, especially Smokey, but his bad-tempered creep side is making it a lot easier.
She autonomously tried to discuss Logic Problems with him, he put his hands over his face, tilted his head back and growled in disgust, then threw his hands down and stomped out to dance. I stopped the dance action, so he sat down across from her and started yelling at her, waving his hands and stabbing his finger at her. Poor little Lyss, she just sat there in shock and took it. She wasn't any more shocked than I was, though. He's never done that with ANY of his other wives, and he lived with both Kat and Del for awhile. It's obvious he thinks Lyss is just a dumb kid. The odd thing is SHE'S the one with the active Loner trait, so where's her self-righteous indignation?
That's two, Smokey, tired of closing out and reloading.
Is it possible there's a phantom counter that keeps track of how long a sim's been active, at least for the current game, even when aging is turned off? Or is it that he's so advanced? Need to find out how he's playing for someone who's downloaded him into their game.
Think this is my last day with TS4, it's just too illogical, can't take it anymore. Too much sim-blah-sim-blah-blah running around in my head I'm unable to process. Never had this kind of frustration with TS3. I just want to have a lighthearted play experience, not wind up disliking every sim I've made. Reminds me of how turned-off I was by the modern version of Battlestar Galactica, not one of the characters was a decent human being. Seems the same can be said for the TS4 sims.
From my initial skimming through the statistics / trackers, there doesn't seem to be anything tracking "how long since this Sim has been a jerk".
But that expression of murderous rage...and he's clearly not Hot-Headed! Maybe it's better safe than sorry. Find a randomly generated townie to take Smokey's bloodlust out on, the game loves to churn out randoms.
They have nice little trackers for "time to slap your Sim with a Tense moodlet from a trait, because Tense Sims are hilarious". Problem is, you don't see these trackers, so they're pretty much random punishments.
Judging by the presence of the Mischief skill (although it's rather tame and lame), along with the fact that on release, one out of four career tracks were evil (the two Criminal tracks, along with the Smuggler track of Astronaut and Villain track of Secret Agent), it seems they really want you to be a jerk.
There's a problem with Smokey starting something with a random sim: ME. No matter a stranger's traits, he makes friends with them instantly and keeps them forever. That's why how he's acting with Lyss is so completely illogical. I love his super-friendliness, and can't go outside MY character to force an unpleasant encounter I have no interest in. Therefore, impasse. Time to choose.
I started up TS3 again and realized all the interesting things there were to do right there at my sim's house, more diversity of interests on that one lot than in all the neighborhoods of TS4. Do you realize what an indictment of TS4 that is? Add to that the pleasant, logically acting, decent sims of TS3 and TS4 fades away, pretty sims, buildings and all.
They DO have trackers, I thought so! Since they were tracking romantic interactions way back in TS2, at least, maybe from inception. I'll bet there's a tracker for interpersonal relationships. Going too smooth for too long? Throw in an angry reaction to anything, no matter what, and stir it up a bit. How infantile. But then, the entire TS4 game is infantile and uninspired. It relies on formula and tired gimmicks that don't play well at their best, and they are far from their best in TS4.
HOW could they wind up coding such brilliant programs like their awesome CAS and Build, then totally bomb the actual gameplay? It's not the bugs, it's the boring, repetitive, often disgusting low-road they force players to trudge. The magic of all those pretty sims and beautiful buildings ruined by the lack of any vision from the gameplay designers. Sad.
I kinda enjoy how they don't click with certain sims and love some others. Is kinda random though.
Gallery ID: Gaia Puma (Click pic above if you would to download that exact building)
Generic result is a slight relationship gain, but there are failure states. Smokey does not have the "Art Lover" trait - which would have made it a big compliment.
I'm a little rusty on the XML format for socials, though.
Why do compliments have failure outcomes?
AhHAH! He doesn't have that trait! Well, crud. Relationship hit.
It's getting so bad I'm afraid to have her say much of anything to him, his fuse is so short. There is GOING to be a blow-up, the game's making it inevitable, draining what little fun left right out of the game for me. Guess it's bye-bye Smokey and Lyss. Man, I hate to leave them, especially Smokey, but his bad-tempered creep side is making it a lot easier.
She autonomously tried to discuss Logic Problems with him, he put his hands over his face, tilted his head back and growled in disgust, then threw his hands down and stomped out to dance. I stopped the dance action, so he sat down across from her and started yelling at her, waving his hands and stabbing his finger at her. Poor little Lyss, she just sat there in shock and took it. She wasn't any more shocked than I was, though. He's never done that with ANY of his other wives, and he lived with both Kat and Del for awhile. It's obvious he thinks Lyss is just a dumb kid. The odd thing is SHE'S the one with the active Loner trait, so where's her self-righteous indignation?
That's two, Smokey, tired of closing out and reloading.
Is it possible there's a phantom counter that keeps track of how long a sim's been active, at least for the current game, even when aging is turned off? Or is it that he's so advanced? Need to find out how he's playing for someone who's downloaded him into their game.
Think this is my last day with TS4, it's just too illogical, can't take it anymore. Too much sim-blah-sim-blah-blah running around in my head I'm unable to process. Never had this kind of frustration with TS3. I just want to have a lighthearted play experience, not wind up disliking every sim I've made. Reminds me of how turned-off I was by the modern version of Battlestar Galactica, not one of the characters was a decent human being. Seems the same can be said for the TS4 sims.
From my initial skimming through the statistics / trackers, there doesn't seem to be anything tracking "how long since this Sim has been a jerk".
But that expression of murderous rage...and he's clearly not Hot-Headed! Maybe it's better safe than sorry. Find a randomly generated townie to take Smokey's bloodlust out on, the game loves to churn out randoms.
They have nice little trackers for "time to slap your Sim with a Tense moodlet from a trait, because Tense Sims are hilarious". Problem is, you don't see these trackers, so they're pretty much random punishments.
Judging by the presence of the Mischief skill (although it's rather tame and lame), along with the fact that on release, one out of four career tracks were evil (the two Criminal tracks, along with the Smuggler track of Astronaut and Villain track of Secret Agent), it seems they really want you to be a jerk.
There's a problem with Smokey starting something with a random sim: ME. No matter a stranger's traits, he makes friends with them instantly and keeps them forever. That's why how he's acting with Lyss is so completely illogical. I love his super-friendliness, and can't go outside MY character to force an unpleasant encounter I have no interest in. Therefore, impasse. Time to choose.
I started up TS3 again and realized all the interesting things there were to do right there at my sim's house, more diversity of interests on that one lot than in all the neighborhoods of TS4. Do you realize what an indictment of TS4 that is? Add to that the pleasant, logically acting, decent sims of TS3 and TS4 fades away, pretty sims, buildings and all.
They DO have trackers, I thought so! Since they were tracking romantic interactions way back in TS2, at least, maybe from inception. I'll bet there's a tracker for interpersonal relationships. Going too smooth for too long? Throw in an angry reaction to anything, no matter what, and stir it up a bit. How infantile. But then, the entire TS4 game is infantile and uninspired. It relies on formula and tired gimmicks that don't play well at their best, and they are far from their best in TS4.
HOW could they wind up coding such brilliant programs like their awesome CAS and Build, then totally bomb the actual gameplay? It's not the bugs, it's the boring, repetitive, often disgusting low-road they force players to trudge. The magic of all those pretty sims and beautiful buildings ruined by the lack of any vision from the gameplay designers. Sad.
I kinda enjoy how they don't click with certain sims and love some others. Is kinda random though.
Guess I wasn't clear, Don Lothario is going to be who he is according his nature that we simmers know from all the way back to TS1, it's expected and accepted. But when a sim goes totally against their nature and acts in a way that's completely out of character for them, that's another thing. The whole sales pitch was players being able to build the sims they want, individuals tailored to a player's tastes, whatever they may be. That's not the case, and that's what I meant.
One of my sims I'd had as a townie for awhile had a deep hate going on for Mortimer Goth when I started playing him. Okay, no problem. It was interesting enough, especially my sim's flipping between wanting to punch Mortimer's lights out one minute and wanting to apologize to him and make up the next. Both whims were within the parameters of my sim's character. But Smokey acting so disdainfully toward Lyss and verbally abusing her every time they sat and had a conversation was VERY NOT within the parameters of his character. I'd never even seen him mad before, much less constantly one step away from raging furious for two days. See what I mean?
Perhaps it had something to do with their conversation bar being stuck on Boring for two sim days. I gave Smokey one more chance tonight and he was an angel to Lyss, definitely back in the tracers where he belongs. I also noticed their conversation bar was responding normally, flipping through pleasant conversation types, and their friendship bars were at last rising the rest of the way to full. Good thing, this was the last time I was going to try. I don't like drama.
Now all is well, they're sweet and kind to each other like soulmates should be, and they're expecting their first baby. Don't know if I'll leave them there or play them. The ham-handed uncertainty and illogical actions built into the personal interactions in TS4 are wearing me out.
When I did that to Alice Spencer-Kim, she got upset and at the end, she and my Sim got a bored moodlet. Probably it's a bug. Every time I clicked that interaction, my Sim doesn't do it. Just do that interaction only once. Remember that clicking the same interaction can cause the conversation to get boring.
Perhaps it had something to do with their conversation bar being stuck on Boring for two sim days. I gave Smokey one more chance tonight and he was an angel to Lyss, definitely back in the tracers where he belongs. I also noticed their conversation bar was responding normally, flipping through pleasant conversation types, and their friendship bars were at last rising the rest of the way to full. Good thing, this was the last time I was going to try. I don't like drama.
And we're back to questionable reactions on the game's end. If you think someone's being boring and blathering on about a topic you don't know/care about, you don't scream at them, you probably roll your eyes a little. It should not be a relationship wrecker.
Exactly! But now that Smokey's his old self again (except for the woohoo problem, definitely not Smokey norm), I'm discovering why I can't seem to drop TS4. In utter frustration, I tried TS3 again. Its gameplay smashed TS4's flat; so many interesting things to do, as I expected; and all the wonderful color-coordination of so many really pleasing varieties of furnishings in my houses made my heart ache... but the sims... you just have to watch Smokey mentoring one of his kids on the piano to really understand the leaps and bounds above TS3's sims animations TS4's are. It's like from a 2D screen to a 3D holographic projection, lightyears of difference.
The animations work with what the sims are doing in TS4, it's not some random sorta kinda. The animators of TS4 are geniuses, and THAT'S where the emotions play, in the movements and expressions of the sims. They take pretty faces and give them souls that play out on those faces. It's a big deal to me because I'm an artist. Though never an animator, I've been playing computer games since they were text-only, and used to write software (accounting stuff mostly) so, now that I've actually compared, I can appreciate the artistic skill and programming finesse that's gone into what they've accomplished.
Now, if they can just fix a few of the most awful, frustrating, game-breaking bugs... they can put them in Granite Falls, I can't seem to find ANY bugs there.
When I did to Alice Spencer-Kim, she got upset and at the end, she and my Sim got a bored moodlet. Probably it's a bug. Every time I clicked that interaction, my Sim doesn't do it. Just do that interaction only once. Remember that repeating the same interaction can cause the conversation to get boring.
There was no repeating, except from me issuing repeated commands that she kept cancelling out, she did the conversation interaction only once in every instance. It was once and a Smokey explosion, at least two times, maybe more. I only forced the interaction once, all the others were autonomous, and what should've been innocent conversations... except one time I wouldn't let him go out and dance. That was also the wrong move on my part, should've let him get out of there.
Comments
Wow! Great story and spot on analogy! LOVE stories like that. LOL
http://www.getfreeebooks.com/star-trek-original-series-fan-fiction-trilogy/
He is a king and the reason why TS3 did not fail.
Sims 4 doesn't have them. So as the bugs start piling up, it will be interesting to see what ends up happening. The bugs are already there, and many have been there since launch and have still not been fixed. As more content is added, more bugs will appear.
What I wonder is if resources will be pulled from making content to fix bugs, or if they will try to pump out content. My guess is the former, actually, given how much less content has been released for Sims 4 as compared to Sims 3.
Oh... you said Henry AT Gibson, not Henry Gibson...
This is the truth.
Mitakuye oyasin.
To all my relations, keep dancing.
Believe or you will not see.
NRaas! Duh, I'm such a dimwit, I USE that! No wonder Twallen sounded familiar. LOL I forgot a legend, sheesh!
AhHAH! He doesn't have that trait! Well, crud. Relationship hit.
It's getting so bad I'm afraid to have her say much of anything to him, his fuse is so short. There is GOING to be a blow-up, the game's making it inevitable, draining what little fun left right out of the game for me. Guess it's bye-bye Smokey and Lyss. Man, I hate to leave them, especially Smokey, but his bad-tempered creep side is making it a lot easier.
She autonomously tried to discuss Logic Problems with him, he put his hands over his face, tilted his head back and growled in disgust, then threw his hands down and stomped out to dance. I stopped the dance action, so he sat down across from her and started yelling at her, waving his hands and stabbing his finger at her. Poor little Lyss, she just sat there in shock and took it. She wasn't any more shocked than I was, though. He's never done that with ANY of his other wives, and he lived with both Kat and Del for awhile. It's obvious he thinks Lyss is just a dumb kid. The odd thing is SHE'S the one with the active Loner trait, so where's her self-righteous indignation?
That's two, Smokey, tired of closing out and reloading.
Is it possible there's a phantom counter that keeps track of how long a sim's been active, at least for the current game, even when aging is turned off? Or is it that he's so advanced? Need to find out how he's playing for someone who's downloaded him into their game.
Think this is my last day with TS4, it's just too illogical, can't take it anymore. Too much sim-blah-sim-blah-blah running around in my head I'm unable to process. Never had this kind of frustration with TS3. I just want to have a lighthearted play experience, not wind up disliking every sim I've made. Reminds me of how turned-off I was by the modern version of Battlestar Galactica, not one of the characters was a decent human being. Seems the same can be said for the TS4 sims.
There's a problem with Smokey starting something with a random sim: ME. No matter a stranger's traits, he makes friends with them instantly and keeps them forever. That's why how he's acting with Lyss is so completely illogical. I love his super-friendliness, and can't go outside MY character to force an unpleasant encounter I have no interest in. Therefore, impasse. Time to choose.
I started up TS3 again and realized all the interesting things there were to do right there at my sim's house, more diversity of interests on that one lot than in all the neighborhoods of TS4. Do you realize what an indictment of TS4 that is? Add to that the pleasant, logically acting, decent sims of TS3 and TS4 fades away, pretty sims, buildings and all.
They DO have trackers, I thought so! Since they were tracking romantic interactions way back in TS2, at least, maybe from inception. I'll bet there's a tracker for interpersonal relationships. Going too smooth for too long? Throw in an angry reaction to anything, no matter what, and stir it up a bit. How infantile. But then, the entire TS4 game is infantile and uninspired. It relies on formula and tired gimmicks that don't play well at their best, and they are far from their best in TS4.
HOW could they wind up coding such brilliant programs like their awesome CAS and Build, then totally bomb the actual gameplay? It's not the bugs, it's the boring, repetitive, often disgusting low-road they force players to trudge. The magic of all those pretty sims and beautiful buildings ruined by the lack of any vision from the gameplay designers. Sad.
That's a lot of periods.
They can be frustrating, certainly. Though my comment was in regards to statements suggesting all of this was in aid of some sort of quack new age psychology the devs are trying to shove down our throats. Or whatever. Honestly, the conversation sort of derailed itself at some point.
From Sunset Valley with Love (Tumblr)
My The Sims 4 Gallery
Gallery ID: Gaia Puma (Click pic above if you would to download that exact building)
http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/789742/the-sims-4-create-a-world-petition-212-signatures-200-signature-celebration/p1
Guess I wasn't clear, Don Lothario is going to be who he is according his nature that we simmers know from all the way back to TS1, it's expected and accepted. But when a sim goes totally against their nature and acts in a way that's completely out of character for them, that's another thing. The whole sales pitch was players being able to build the sims they want, individuals tailored to a player's tastes, whatever they may be. That's not the case, and that's what I meant.
One of my sims I'd had as a townie for awhile had a deep hate going on for Mortimer Goth when I started playing him. Okay, no problem. It was interesting enough, especially my sim's flipping between wanting to punch Mortimer's lights out one minute and wanting to apologize to him and make up the next. Both whims were within the parameters of my sim's character. But Smokey acting so disdainfully toward Lyss and verbally abusing her every time they sat and had a conversation was VERY NOT within the parameters of his character. I'd never even seen him mad before, much less constantly one step away from raging furious for two days. See what I mean?
Perhaps it had something to do with their conversation bar being stuck on Boring for two sim days. I gave Smokey one more chance tonight and he was an angel to Lyss, definitely back in the tracers where he belongs. I also noticed their conversation bar was responding normally, flipping through pleasant conversation types, and their friendship bars were at last rising the rest of the way to full. Good thing, this was the last time I was going to try. I don't like drama.
Now all is well, they're sweet and kind to each other like soulmates should be, and they're expecting their first baby. Don't know if I'll leave them there or play them. The ham-handed uncertainty and illogical actions built into the personal interactions in TS4 are wearing me out.
Exactly! But now that Smokey's his old self again (except for the woohoo problem, definitely not Smokey norm), I'm discovering why I can't seem to drop TS4. In utter frustration, I tried TS3 again. Its gameplay smashed TS4's flat; so many interesting things to do, as I expected; and all the wonderful color-coordination of so many really pleasing varieties of furnishings in my houses made my heart ache... but the sims... you just have to watch Smokey mentoring one of his kids on the piano to really understand the leaps and bounds above TS3's sims animations TS4's are. It's like from a 2D screen to a 3D holographic projection, lightyears of difference.
The animations work with what the sims are doing in TS4, it's not some random sorta kinda. The animators of TS4 are geniuses, and THAT'S where the emotions play, in the movements and expressions of the sims. They take pretty faces and give them souls that play out on those faces. It's a big deal to me because I'm an artist. Though never an animator, I've been playing computer games since they were text-only, and used to write software (accounting stuff mostly) so, now that I've actually compared, I can appreciate the artistic skill and programming finesse that's gone into what they've accomplished.
Now, if they can just fix a few of the most awful, frustrating, game-breaking bugs... they can put them in Granite Falls, I can't seem to find ANY bugs there.
There was no repeating, except from me issuing repeated commands that she kept cancelling out, she did the conversation interaction only once in every instance. It was once and a Smokey explosion, at least two times, maybe more. I only forced the interaction once, all the others were autonomous, and what should've been innocent conversations... except one time I wouldn't let him go out and dance. That was also the wrong move on my part, should've let him get out of there.